Sneezing every time you muck out the goats, or itchy eyes after a day at the petting farm? Goat hair and skin flakes carry allergens like those of other furry animals. Our test checks your blood for IgE to goat dander (epithelium) as part of 300 allergens and allergen components, alongside cattle, horse, hay pollen and storage mites.
Like other furred animals, goats shed tiny flakes of skin and hair, called dander. These flakes carry the proteins your immune system can react to. They settle in straw and dust and are stirred up when you feed, groom or muck out the animals.
Goat allergens are much less studied than cat or cattle allergens, and no single goat protein is on the panel. The test uses a whole goat epithelium extract, which contains the mix of proteins found in goat skin and hair.
Typical reports are sneezing, a runny or blocked nose and itchy, watery eyes in the goat shed or pen. Some people notice itchy skin or welts after touching goats. People with asthma may find their chest gets tighter in barns.
Barns are busy places for allergens. Hay and straw carry grass pollen, storage mites and mould spores, so symptoms in the goat shed have several possible sources. Testing them together shows which ones your blood reacts to.
Goat dander and goat milk are different things for your immune system. Dander allergens are breathed in; milk proteins are eaten. The panel reports goat milk on its own line, so a dander result says nothing about milk, and the other way round.
Goats, sheep and cattle are related ruminants. People who work with farm animals often show IgE to more than one of them, partly because they meet several at once. Cattle, horse and pig are reported separately on the same panel.
From your finger-prick sample, the lab measures IgE to a goat epithelium extract as part of 300 allergens and allergen components. A positive result shows sensitisation, not a confirmed allergy. Your report gives the value a class from Negative to Very high, to talk through with a doctor alongside your symptoms.
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One finger-prick sample checks IgE to 300 allergens and allergen components, from birch and peanut to cat and house dust mite. Post it to the lab, and about 5 days after it arrives you get a value for every one. Our plain-English guide shows you how to read them. €399 in total, €1.33 per allergen.
Yes. Goat dander carries proteins that can cause sensitisation, like other furred animals. A blood test shows whether you have IgE to goat epithelium. A doctor can tell you what that means alongside your symptoms.
Not necessarily. Dander and milk contain different proteins. Our panel reports goat epithelium and goat milk separately, so you can see each result on its own.
It can be either, or both. Hay and straw carry grass pollen, storage mites and mould spores. The panel tests goat dander and all of these in the same sample, so you can compare them in one report.
